The present disclosure generally relates to material handling equipment, and more specifically to rail maintenance equipment for orienting, sorting and conveying rail fasteners, such as rail spikes, to a fastener applicator, such as a spike driver.
While the present application is intended for use in handling and sorting rail spikes, also referred to as cut spikes, it is contemplated that the present invention is usable in orienting, sorting and conveying other rail fasteners, such as lag bolts, hairpin spikes, Lewis bolts, rail clips, rail anchors and the like as well as other fasteners needing repositioning while being conveyed to an operational destination. Thus, “spikes” will be broadly interpreted in the present application to refer to any such rail fasteners.
Conventional railway maintenance machines used to install rail spikes typically receive a supply of rail spikes in bulk, and randomly oriented. Operators need to manually sort and orient the received spikes for eventual loading into a spike driver magazine, a suitable example of which is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,191,840; 5,398,616; 7,104,200, all of which are incorporated by reference.
In commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,985,307, an automated singulator provided a mechanism for delivering single spikes from a supply of bulk spikes using a stage-lift mechanism that separates the spikes by sequentially lifting them on vertically reciprocating platforms to gradually reduce the conveyed spike from a small group to a single spike.
In use, the prior singulator was in some cases prone to jamming and snagging due to the introduction of the spikes between moving components. During operation, such jammed spikes must be removed manually and other associated mechanisms are stopped for the removal of the jammed spikes. This results in increased operational expenses and maintenance time. In addition, the prior units included a relatively complicated mechanism for performing singulation, requiring greater than average maintenance. Therefore, there is a need to develop an enhanced singulator that is relatively simple to use and requires reduced labor and maintenance.